AU Small Finance Bank ixigo Credit Card Review: Zero Fee, Zero Forex, a Few Strings

The AU Small Finance Bank ixigo Credit Card is a lifetime-free travel card co-branded with the ixigo booking platform. Its two biggest selling points are ones you rarely find together on a free card: no annual fee and a zero forex markup. Add discounts on ixigo bookings and a mix of airport and railway lounge access, and it looks like one of the better free travel cards around. The catches are in the lounge conditions and the plain reward rate, but for a card that costs nothing to hold, they're easy to live with.

Fees and eligibility at a glance

There's no joining fee and no annual fee, so there's nothing to waive and nothing to track. The card is open to salaried and self-employed applicants between 21 and 60. Check AU's current income and credit score requirements before you apply. It runs on Visa. Cash withdrawals cost 2.5% of the amount, with a minimum of ₹500 per transaction, so keep it away from ATMs like any other credit card.

Rewards and how they actually work

The reward rate works out to about 1.25% across spending, and travel earns the same rate as everything else. There's no accelerated category for ixigo bookings in the points structure. The booking discounts do that job instead.

On ₹20,000 a month of spending, 1.25% works out to about ₹250 a month, or ₹3,000 a year. That's respectable for a free card, though not exceptional. Each redemption costs ₹99 plus GST, so small, frequent redemptions eat into the value. Let points build up and redeem in larger batches.

New cardholders get a welcome bonus of 1,000 reward points and a ₹1,000 ixigo Money voucher, provided you make your first transaction within 30 days. If you were going to book a trip on ixigo anyway, that voucher alone is a decent start.

Lounges, forex and travel perks

The zero forex markup is the card's standout feature. On ₹1 lakh of overseas or foreign-currency spending, a typical 3.5% card would cost you ₹3,500 in markup. This card costs nothing. For anyone who travels abroad or pays foreign websites regularly, that saving can easily outweigh everything else on this list.

Lounge access comes in three parts. You get 2 domestic airport lounge visits per quarter, but only if you spent ₹50,000 or more in the previous quarter. That's about ₹16,700 a month, a real condition for a card aimed at budget travellers. There's 1 international lounge visit a year through Priority Pass, on request. And there are 8 complimentary railway lounge visits a year, a useful perk for anyone who travels by train.

On the booking side, you get up to 10% off flight, bus and hotel bookings made through ixigo.

How it compares with Scapia and Standard Chartered EaseMyTrip

The Federal Bank Scapia Credit Card is the closest match: also lifetime free with zero forex markup. Scapia earns more, 2% on general spending and up to 10% on travel booked in the Scapia app, and its domestic lounge access is unlimited once you spend ₹5,000 a month, a much lower bar than ixigo's ₹50,000 a quarter. But Scapia has no international lounge access and no railway lounges, and its Coins can only be spent inside the Scapia app. For pure value, Scapia usually comes out ahead. The ixigo card's edge is the railway lounges, the one Priority Pass visit and points that aren't tied to a single app.

The Standard Chartered EaseMyTrip Credit Card is another booking-platform co-brand. It costs ₹350 a year, waived on ₹50,000 of spend, and gives flat 20% off hotels and 10% off flights on EaseMyTrip (within caps), with 2 domestic and 2 Priority Pass visits a year. Its forex markup isn't published. For overseas spending, the ixigo card is the clear winner. If you book heavily on EaseMyTrip, the SC card's discounts are more generous.

What's genuinely good about this card

Zero fees plus zero forex markup is a rare combination, and it makes this card worth carrying for every foreign-currency transaction. The lounge mix covers domestic airports, international airports and railway stations, which few free cards offer. The welcome bonus is useful, the 1.25% reward rate applies everywhere, and the ixigo discounts cover buses and hotels as well as flights.

Where it falls short

Domestic airport lounge access depends on spending ₹50,000 in the previous quarter, so a quiet quarter means no lounge visits in the next one, and new cardholders start with none. International lounge access is limited to a single visit a year. The reward rate is fine but modest, and the ₹99-plus-GST redemption fee reduces it further. The booking discounts only help if you book through ixigo.

Who this card actually makes sense for

This card suits budget-conscious travellers who take a couple of international trips a year, book trains, buses or flights through ixigo, and want to avoid forex charges without paying an annual fee. It also works well as a free second card used only for foreign-currency spending. If you need reliable domestic lounge access without a spend condition, look elsewhere.

Where to go from here

For AU's wider lineup, read the AU Small Finance Bank credit cards guide and our AU Bank LIT card review. If foreign transactions are your main concern, compare it with the best zero forex markup credit cards, and if you travel by train, the credit card railway lounge access guide lists other cards with railway lounges.